This guidance provides you the key legal and ethical considerations that need to be taken into account when seeking consent for treatment or research, and signposts to other sources of support and information. Topics covered include: key questions about consent and refusal; capacity to consent; sharing information with patients; who is responsible for seeking consent; refusal of consent; advance care planning; consent for emergency treatment; compulsory treatment under mental health legislation; consent for research; consent for teaching purposes.

This document sets out to define the process that professionals should follow when making judgements about a person’s capacity to consent to medical treatment.

This factsheet explains what mental capacity is, outlines the key principles or rules of the Mental Capacity Act, and looks at how it can be applied when planning for the future. Topics covered include decision-making and mental capacity; the principles of the Mental Capacity Act; assessing capacity; making decisions; planning ahead; and when someone hasn’t planned ahead – deputyship.

Findings from a study to gather information from people who have experienced Do Not Attempt Resuscitation (DNAR) decision making, both since and prior to the Coronavirus pandemic. The report shows a worrying picture around the rights of involvement in care and treatment decisions, including DNARs. The evidence depicts serious issues of discrimination related to disability and age, and the intersection between the two, as well as other factors. Coronavirus has shone a spotlight on this, and some reported an increase in worrying DNAR decisions; but none of this is new, these problems are ongoing. The report’s key findings are: 100% of people involved said there needs to be more easily accessible information about human rights; almost 60% of people involved said they had received no information about their right to life during Coronavirus; 65% of people involved said that they (or a person they care for/about) had a DNAR order put on your medical file. 21% said they didn’t know; of those who had seen a DNAR order put in place almost half (47%) were not related to end-of-life care; less than a third of people (29%) who were involved in DNAR decision-making felt fully listened to, most felt listened to a bit (46%), and 25% felt not listened to; 91% of people involved felt that discrimination was an issue in the DNAR decisions they’d experienced.

This toolkit provides practical guidance to assist doctors in making decisions in the best interests of adults who lack capacity in England and Wales. It sets out an overview of the law; outlines a clear decision-making process to follow; and provides detailed practical advice as to who doctors should consult and the information they need in reaching a decision.

This toolkit acts as a prompt to doctors when they are providing care and treatment for people who lack, or who may lack, the mental capacity to make decisions on their own behalf.

This book is designed to help conduct robust assessments whilst at the same time enabling professionals to provide optimum outcome for those under their charge. It also aims help achieve these goals: set the threshold of understanding which is necessary for every assessment; clearly define seemingly ambiguous phrases such as ‘unwise decisions’ and ‘the functional test’; recording assessments ensuring they stand up to legal scrutiny.

This guidance note sits alongside our guidance note on carrying out and recording capacity assessments, and is designed to assist social workers and those working in frontline clinical settings when they asked to consider a person’s capacity to make a decision or decisions. As set out in our guidance note, the courts have now applied the MCA 2005 in respect of very many types of decision. In the course of doing so, they have given indications as to what they consider to be relevant (and sometimes irrelevant) information for purposes of those decisions – i.e. what the person must be able to understand, retain, use and weigh to able to make the decision. This guidance note pulls together the guidance given in relation to some of the most common decisions that are encountered in practice in the context of health and welfare matters.

An overview, signposting to relevant resources and guidance, on how an attorney or deputy can continue to fulfil their role during the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown.

This tool kit is designed provide information and support for the application of the Mental Capacity Act to GPs and primary care staff.

The guide provides practical assistance to anyone who supports an individual to make decisions about their finances. It covers the legislation that governs financial decision-making and makes practical suggestions about how to: empower and support an individual with making decisions about their finances; assess an individual’s capacity in relation to financial decision-making in a way which is decision-specific; apply the Mental Capacity Act to an individual’s situation; and enable decision making by individuals wherever possible.

Advocacy helps to ensure that individuals are in control of their own lives and are supported to make their own decisions. This good practice guide has been developed to help professionals and advocates to decide on the most appropriate route to take to challenge decisions about an individual’s care. It will help advocates to develop a ‘tool-kit’ of different approaches to get the best possible outcome for people depending on their views and the situation. The guide discusses when it is most appropriate to use informal approaches to challenge decisions; the skills required to be effective when taking this approach, including negotiating and influencing; and using Best Interests meetings. It also looks at using formal routes to challenge decisions through the Mental Capacity Act 2005, Mental Health Act 1983, the Care Act 2014, and through formal complaints processes and judicial review. The guide provides useful case examples and makes reference to relevant sections within Acts and Statutory Guidance to illustrate key points. The guide is relevant for professionals across the health and social care sectors, as well as for friends and family members who are supporting a friend or relative.